How to Safely Divorce An Obsessive Emperor

Ecelion’s hand pointed to Lasilia’s eyes.

“What I am seeing now is the face of Lasilia, the prophetess of Dell’Arta. I don’t know what the Empress of Eliadun looks like.”

“What… What?”

“No, what does that mean?”

Lasilia and Serven were both surprised. Serven, in particular, was so dumbfounded that he shook his head to the point of making a loud noise.

“I have seen Her Majesty the Empress ever since I joined the Imperial Guard! To my eyes, Her Majesty’s appearance remains the same! Of course, her personality is very different.”

Lasilia traced her own face with her bewildered fingertips.

“This… My face?”

Ecelion and Serven answered at the same time.

“Yes. This is Lasilia’s face.”

“Yes. Your face is exactly the same as that of Her Majesty the Empress!”

“…”

First of all, it made no sense that her face was not the same as that of the Empress Cartagena. If this face wasn’t that of the Empress, Lasilia wouldn’t have had to hide her identity in the first place. She must have noticed that everyone in the imperial palace had changed her empress with someone else. Still, it didn’t seem like Ecelion was lying. Above all, at this point when Lasilia had acknowledged her identity, she had no reason to lie to Ecelion again.

“Then that would mean that I and Empress Cartagena Piellion have the same appearance …Is that possible?”

Ecelion opened his mouth.

“I too have doubts. Lasilia, have you never looked in a mirror in the Empire? If the two people looked the same, it makes no sense for Lady Lasilia not to have known about it until now.”

He was still wondering whether the Empire was falsely arresting the prophet of Dell’Arta. But Ecelion was wrong.

“It appears that His Highness Ecelion has never seen the Prophet’s Room.”

“Yes…? Yes, none. That’s not a place that anyone can enter. I understand that only a few dream keepers are allowed to enter.”

“There were no windows there. Just like there was no mirror and no bathtub.”

“…yes?”

“No, what?”

Ecelion and Serven made similar expressions at the same time.

“And it’s very dark. The prophet wears the same clothes as the dream keeper, and wears the same cotton thread when going out. As far as I remember I have never seen my own face. The first time I looked in the mirror was right after I woke up in the body of the Empress.”

Serven clenched his clenched fists.

“That is… Does that make sense? No, they say a prophet is an agent of God! But… Are you saying they made you stay in an absurd place?”

Ecelion was equally shocked.

“I am… I had no idea. How could that happen…”

“Because a prophet must be wary of what he sees. It means to believe only in the truth that God shows, and not to be deceived by what you see with your own eyes.”

Lasilia made a bitter expression.

“When I became a prophet at a young age, I heard this from a high priest, and at the time, I believed it to be true. But I guess that’s not all.”

“Then, Lady Lasilia… Do you believe that the High Priest of Dell’Arta intentionally let you stay in that room?”

“Do you think it would have been the same if my face had never happened to be the same as that of the Empress of the Empire?”

“…”

“…!”

Serven widened his eyes, and Ecelion bit his lip. Lasilia, on the other hand, felt like she was getting closer to the reason she had been searching for. She seemed to know now. Why did she live in that room even before she became a prophet? That room was not the Prophet’s room. Because she herself became a prophet, it was only later called the Prophet’s Chamber. It was a room to hide a girl. She was a girl who looked exactly like the Empress of the empire.

* * *

“Then… Could she be saying that Her Majesty the Empress had a twin? Like me and Ryan.”

After a moment of astonishment passed, Serven took a breath and spoke.

“If she looks exactly the same, there is no other answer… No, then why was she, Her Majesty the Empress, at Dell’Arta? Why was the person with the mark Cartagena Piellion?”

She couldn’t figure that out. However, it was possible to guess that something had happened in the duchy related to her own birth.

“I don’t know if I was born as the Duke’s daughter, but the Duke knew of my existence. Before he lost consciousness, Lord Piellion mentioned my past. He had a child who could threaten the position of Empress of Cartagena Piellion, so she had to be found and destroyed.”

That couldn’t possibly be what he was saying about Lasilia, who looked exactly like her.

“What kind of crazy…”

Serven, who was trembling at the thought that Lasilia might have died, shook her head.

“No, there’s something strange about that. “Nowhere was it said that twins were born to the Duke of Piellion.”

Cartagena Piellion was the Duke’s only daughter. The fact that she was the only heir to the dukedom born with the mark of the companion was the brightest ornament in Cartagena Piellion’s life.

“Did Lord Piellion not know that his daughters were twins? Either someone hid Her Majesty the Empress immediately after her birth… No, if that were the case, she wouldn’t have been recognized as a threat. What happened?”

It definitely made no sense.

“My thoughts stop there.”

Lasilia frowned slightly.

“For now, I can only hope that Lord Piellion wakes up and says something.”

Then Ecelion opened his mouth.

“That’s such a strange thing. Duke Piellion of Eliaden didn’t know about Lasilia’s whereabouts. As far as I know, the Piellion family had a close relationship with the High Priest of Dell’Arta.”

“…? What else is that?”

Ecelion put her hand inside her top and pulled something out of her. It was an envelope with the seal of the Piellion family stamped on it.

“This is a note that the Piellion family has sent to the high priest over the years. Once a year, a considerable amount of donations were given in the name of the Piellion family.”

It was common for noble families to send donations to temples. The problem was that the donation was not sent to the temple in Eliadan, but to the distant Dell’Arta, which took two months to reach. There must have been a reason for that to happen.

“This is also why I visited Piellion Street today. I would like to inform you that the High Priest of Dell’Arta left a message saying that he supports my royal authority, which is the legitimate lineage of the late King Verhoyet. He then intended to ask for support from House Piellion.”

A faction arose that rebelled against King Ricardo, who had usurped the throne through treason, and wanted the reinstatement of Prince Ecelion. Sporadic civil war was already underway in Dell’Arta.

The most important thing in waging war was money. Ecelion was desperate, so he did not hesitate to go to the trouble of coming to Eliaden himself.

“Would there have been a reason for a family that sends such generous donations to hide the child they are looking for and not talk about it?”

It couldn’t have been that way. Serven muttered with a stern expression.

“I guess it was the other way around. He hid the child and sent money to keep her quiet.”

“I guess so. However, if Duke Piellion did not know about it, it means that it was someone else’s work. Someone who could impersonate the Duke.”

Lasilia exhaled quietly.

The pieces of words that the dementia-stricken duke had been spewing out incoherently had finally come together.

“It must be the Duchess.”

“Do you mean Duchess Piellion? I understand that it has been twenty years since the Duchess passed away.”

“What if she had an agent?”

“Oh, of course it is possible. It is said that donations were made every year, so there must have been someone who trusted him enough to entrust him with the work even after he died.”

Lasilia added.

“It may have something to do with her child’s nanny.”

“Yumora… Do you have any guess?”

“I think her nanny was with her. In that room. She was with him for a while when he was a child, although he was never seen again after that.”

It seemed like his expression got worse for a moment.

“Lasilia.”

Ecelion’s hand landed on her hand, which was resting on her knee. Suddenly, Ecelion got up from her seat and knelt down next to Lasilia and placed her forehead on her hand.

“No, do I really have to…”

Serven pretended to stop Ecelion with an awkward gesture from behind. But she couldn’t reach out. It was impossible for a knight of the Royal Guard to step forward if the Empress did not stop him.

Serven’s small words to himself did not reach Ecelion’s ears. He said these words with a very distressed face.

“Please tell me what I should do. If you wish to punish the High Priest, I will do so. The high priest is already dead, but when I become king, I will erase his name from the temple forever.”

“It’s already been a long time. Moreover, if you are to place responsibility, it is more appropriate to place the responsibility on Duke Piellion rather than the High Priest.”

“I am… I don’t know what to do. When I learn that Lasilia has been through such an unfair and painful time, I feel an anger that cannot be relieved.”

That was the moment when Serven widened his eyes and forced himself to ask, “Why are you doing this?”

“Beep!”

Grumble!

A scarlet flame rose beyond the study window.

“…Pipi?”

Lasilia, who heard Pipi’s voice at first glance, turned her head. Surprisingly, the scarlet flame melted an entire window. Pipi flew in through the open window.

“Beep!”

Pipi raised her eyes fiercely and immediately pecked the back of Ecelion’s hand.

“Pipi! What are you doing? You can’t do that.”

Lasilia hurriedly grabbed Pipi.

“Beep! Beep!”

Pipi flapped her wings in Lasilia’s hand and made a loud noise. He told her not to stop him because he was very angry right now. The other half were curses directed at Ecelion, whom no one knew. She said harsh words to me, asking me how dare I put my extremely heavy head on top.

“That bird… What is?”

Ecelion, more embarrassed than surprised, raised his head.

Serven answered, feeling relieved for some reason.

“He is the Phoenix. Your Royal Highness, a prince from a foreign country, may know about the beginning of the empire, but the phoenix is also a symbol of companionship.”

“There really is a phoenix…”

Ecelion looked very shaken.

As Serven said, the phoenix was proof that Lasilia was the emperor’s companion. Ecelion had seen with her own eyes that the prophet of Dell’Arta had become the empress of the empire. As if to prove it, Lescal came in next.

Bang!

The study door opened loudly, and the Duke’s butler, who looked pale, announced Lescal’s appearance.

“Wow, His Majesty the Emperor has arrived.”

The words the butler trembled seemed to be too late. Lescal had already entered the study and was delving into the relationship between Lasilia and Ecelion.

Lasilia asked with a slightly surprised expression. It’s not that she didn’t expect to see Lescal now.

“What brings you here?”

Ecelion ignored Ecelion as if he couldn’t see her at all and Lescal pulled Lasilia’s hand.

“Because I missed you.”

Lescal pressed his lips to the back of his hand in a motion several times more sticky than usual.

“I couldn’t take it anymore.”

 

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Translator Note: